Book 1: Chapter 58

*** Silas POV ***



“As you can see, Alpha, she is both beautiful and would make the perfect Luna. She’s a little young but she’s been raised right.”

I looked at the woman in front of me. Alpha Reid wasn’t wrong. She was beautiful and the old 50’s kind of beauty. Classically beautiful some might say. The issue was he also hit the nail on the head with how young she was. She just turned eighteen. We were separated by double digits in age. It made me grimace and I’m sure my reputation may have made me look far scarier to her than I meant to be. However, being surprised by Elder Herman and Alpha Reid, throwing his grand-fucking-daughter at me. As though she had no mate out there to love her, as though she was washed up like me with no mate in sight.

Behind me, I could feel Nate and Sam’s amusement at the situation. They’d come over to the pack house at nine in the morning. Knowing Sam, Nate, and I didn’t really leave to start whatever we were doing until after ten a.m. However, all of us were up because we were expecting Aelia in the next couple of minutes to help us with some pack issues. It seemed dumb, but we were running into some issues with our members and mates. We had three couples who were in a battle that their parents swear they were mates but one or both refuse to be with the other. Aelia was the only one who could easily set them straight. Usually it wouldn’t be an issue but the families wanted them to mate before both were of age.

Now there was this shit. Goddess did I not need this in the morning. Running my hands through my hair, I sighed. The Elders were really pushing it now. Both the subject and my patience. A roar from down the road made everyone turn and Aelia’s motorcycle rolled up next to my truck. No helmet, of course, but she was wearing dark jeans, a nice shirt and a leather jacket. It was a far cry from the ‘Suck my Tits’ crop top and the nearly see through Ramones shirt. This seemed like her dressing up.

“A…Sol!” Nate went over and reached out, letting her take his hand as she swung her legs over the bike.

She looked tired. Not that she hadn’t slept for days but exhaustion that came from your bones. Her smile showed none of that exhaustion. The way she looked over the current situation, her back straightened a little more.

“Alpha Silas, you allow rogues on your territory now?” Alpha Reid gave me a look between frustration and amusement. “I had heard you’d gone back on your sisters memory but I didn’t think…”

My lips curled up into a sneer, my face growing angry. That alone cut off anything further he was going to say as my aura started to exude. It was promptly cut off by Aelia putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I apologize, I had a meeting scheduled this morning with Alpha Silas.” She held out her hand to Alpha Reid. “I’m Solaris Ulrich.”

The emphasis on the last name wasn’t lost on all three of them. The young she-wolf cowered behind her Grandfather who also stood a little straighter. Elder Herman just looked like an absolute loss for words. Finally shaking hands with her, you could see both Herman and Reid crumble under the power she had simply from her handshake. Aelia may have been dying but her aura and power were still undeniable.

“I’m Alpha Reid, from the Mountain Spring pack. This is my granddaughter Denia.”

Aelia smiled. “Nice to see you outside the visits of the castle, Reid. I’ve seen you once or twice over the years, though I do tend to look much different in uniform. Your son, Klein is doing well I hope. I was surprised a third son was able to make it through a punishment like he did, especially one I had to handle personally.”

I had to bite my lip. Klein was the black sheep and a stain on Alpha Reid’s otherwise squeaky clean reputation. Aelia bringing it up now was her getting back at his earlier comment at me. What’s more, it showed him that she had more of an alliance standing next to me than she did with his pack. It was smart, without being too direct.

“I’m Solaris, it’s nice to meet you Denia.” Aelia held out her hand to the girl.

Not wanting to anger her, the young wolf went to  shake her hand. As soon as her hand slipped into Aelia’s grasp though, I watched as Aelia brushed something on the top of her hand. She smiled at the girl, despite the fear flashing on her face that she was now caught in this handhold for however long Aelia wanted her to be.

“You must have been ecstatic finding your mate within your own pack. A Beta too! You must be very happy to be placed in such a prestigious spot next to a Beta.”

Nate behind me snorted and Sam coughed, trying to cover his own laugh. Alpha Reid and Denia both went white as ghosts.

“I wish you two all the best. Unfortunately for some of us, finding and having our mates does not come easy.” Aelia walked over and flashed me a sad smile, squeezing my shoulder. “You are one of the lucky ones. Enjoy your time growing old and having a family together.”

Elder Herman cleared his throat, trying to get control of the situation that clearly was his loss. He was angrily glancing at Alpha Reid. “I apologize Alpha Silas, I didn’t realize you had a prior engagement. Please excuse us and we will reach out for a better time to speak with you.”

I nodded. “Please make sure you run it by Gamma Sam on the specifics of what you would like to talk about and the best time for you that fits within my schedule.”

Elder Herman bared his neck slightly. “Yes, Alpha. We shall speak later.”

They turned and headed back to what looked like Alpha Reid’s car since I was pretty sure Herman didn’t actually drive anymore. Only had people drive him around. As soon as the car was out of sight, Sam, Nate and I burst out laughing. Sam had both hands on his knees and Nate was holding his stomach with one hand, his hand on his side. My head was thrown back. Meredith came outside, shaking her heads at us.

“Incorrigible. All of you. Except you dear, it’s lovely to see you again.” Meredith kissed Aelia on the cheek before heading to her car. “I’m going grocery shopping. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Lunch is in the fridge.”

“Thanks Mer!” Nate wiped the corner of his eyes.

Aelia sighed and shook her head. “I swear. Alpha’s think it’s within their right to just sell off their daughters or in this case granddaughters.”

“I mean, your gift comes in handy.”

She snorted. “I didn’t need my gift. The girl had a promise ring around her neck. I just confirmed that he was in her pack and he was a Beta.”

“Goddess above. The fact that Herman went along with it. He knows I can’t fucking mark anyone.” My voice was low, anger finally surfacing after the frustration was gone.

“One day, Sil, you will. Don’t worry. Also, I want coffee before I have to deal with these families. They sound like idiots and I need to be fueled up.”

I knew specifically the stipulations that Noah and Finn set out for her coming today. One was that I couldn’t have her out more than three hours, Second was if she looked too fatigued, one of us would need to take her back and the third was that she couldn’t have coffee. Noah had made it very clear. He had his hands full with Finn and Aelia both needing very specific things, or lack there-of.

“I can get you tea, but no coffee.”

She growled. “Noah got to you first.”

Chuckling, I nodded, throwing my arm over her shoulders. “Yup. I’ll be damned if I ruin these visits they allow by letting you have coffee.”

Sighing, Aelia strode into the house and we followed after her. After grabbing tea and some fresh fruit, Sam disappeared into his office but Nate and Aelia came into mine. I’d called all three families in and they would be here in about ten minutes.

“So, how do you want me to do this?” She sat on the edge of my desk, legs dangling off the edge.

Nate sat on the couch, leaning his head back and his eyes were closed.

“I just want to know if the kids are mates. I don’t care who their mate actually is. Just if these idiots are blowing smoke up my ass in a Romeo and Juliet scenario.” I rubbed my eyes, leaning back in my office chair.

Aelia turned to me. “Why bother? Why not just tell them no until they are of age?”

“Their ages have a pretty big gap. So it gets a little weird.” Nate answered for me.

She rolled her eyes. “Impatient wolves.”

Nate snorted. “You’re the last person who should be saying anything.”

The smirk on her face made me chuckle. “You’ll see. One day. The both of you.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

“I’m getting too old for this.” I sighed.

A quiet settled in until I peeled my eyes open to see blood, trailing out of Aelia’s nose. Getting up, I passed her the tissue box. For a minute, she looked at me confused but touched her nose and it came back bloody.

“Shit.”

Nate perked up but he didn’t rise from the couch. She grabbed a tissue and pinched her nose, trying to stop the bleeding.

“Happening often?” His voice was quiet and pained.

“It’s becoming a more frequent occurrence.” Aelia’s voice sounded nasally as she held her head back.

I waited by her side, looking at my little sister. Trying to memorize her features. How similar we were and where we differed. Really, the only big things were her height and the replacements for her limbs and eye. At least, physically. If you looked close, we had the same shape eyes, jaw structure, and even build. The biggest difference and the one that I think stopped people from seeing our similarities was how she carried herself. It wasn’t as an Alpha, not in the traditional sense. Her aura didn’t need her to stand tall. Didn’t need her to walk around looking like business woman. She just commanded attention unless specifically trying not to.

She pulled the tissue away and used another to clean up before taking a deep breath through her nose. Nate got up, pulling her chin up. Brushing a hair behind her ear, she smiled at him.

“I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”

He sighed. “Yeah, fat chance. Do Noah and Finn know?”

“Know what?”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Seriously, A.”

Aelia waved him off. “Noah and Finn are in the romantic part of their pregnancy. The beginning is always so sweet. Plus, Finn doesn’t need the stress.” There was a grimace for a second.

I raised my eyebrow. “Everything okay with Finn?”

“He’s a…um…” She bit her lip before cracking a smile. “Let’s just say he’s taking the ‘eating for two’ a little too seriously. Nate and I have been doing our best to curb that or at least make it healthy. But for the first time, since I met them, Finn is nearly uncontrollable.”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh. It’s getting there. Luckily, he still does work out but…it’s…”She snickered. “He ate three pizzas in one sitting the other night.”

My eyes widened and Nate chocked out a laugh. “Holy shit.”

“So I’m trying to…not play down my condition. They already know I’m getting worse. I’m just trying to let them enjoy their time.”

Nate rubbed her good arm. “If you want, you can stay here. I’m sure Silas wouldn’t mind. We have the guest bedrooms.”

“You’re always welcome, Aelia. Always. You don’t need to ask. I can differentiate between when you come on my territory than other rogues. The boys at the border know you too.”

Her face lit up and her grin made me smile. “Thanks you two. If it needs to happen, maybe. Right now though, it’s like pulling teeth just to let me leave their sight.”